Spring 2020 on Hitra episode 3

May 31st - June 1st Kvenvær - Hopsjøen - Brekstad

 For the third time of this spring holiday I'm back at Hitra this time in the western end. Waking up to a warm and completely  still morning I decide to explore the Kvenvær archipelago with my inflatable kayak.  

Today nobody lives full time in the Kvenvær archipelago and from mainland Hitra or from the shipping lane you don't see the houses, but once in-between the island there are houses and cabins all over. And on a nice spring sunday most are in use. With my lack of kayak training, both physical and technical, this I only was able to visit a little corner but even so a really nice padle, around 10 km in total.

In the afternoon I motored over to the Hopsjøen the old trading station. I didn't wander around much this time in Hopsjøen thus in this blog little proof of the beauty is presented. 

Next day was the last day of the mini one week plus holiday and so I returned back to my slip at Brekstad.

First I had to tackle (or chose to I could have sailed around) the narrow and low bridge at Vettastraumen. Even with good wind from behind I chickened out on sailing through. In the end that proved to be vise because just as I was to go under the bridge at tick over speed one of the heroes off the coast approached from the opposite end in his wave generator = semi-planing motor yacht .  Whether it was of thoughtlessness or selfishness I do not know but there was no waiting until I had passed. With the bridge being so narrow and me having to go in the exact midle not to have the mast colliding with the bridge there was very little space left for him to pass. Had I been sailing it would have been on a very broad starboard reach and thus the mainsail beam would have projected a proper bit over the side of the boat. If there would have been sufficient space I am not shure of.  

Having cleared the narrowest passage I turned the bow into the wind and set the main sail, whale still being in Dolmsundet. Running with the wind from behind I only had the main set. After a while running my course turned more and more east and at one point I had gotten to a reach that could keep the jib full. 

As I got more east and further "inland" the wind weakened and when i met the tide discarding water from the Trondheimsfjorden it gave little meaning to continue sailing so for the last hour or so I again har to accept the sound of 27 galloping horses from Volvo.

On the outside of Frøya

May 30th Sula - Kvenvær

In keeping with the idea to follow the wind. Or rather sailing towards destinations giving the best sail. With forecasted easterlies and north easterlies sailing to south towards Titran or Kvenvær seemed like the best option.

With that chosen next was to find a way through the maze of islet and skerries that is much more precarious  in the direction I want to go than  yesterdays route. In the end I chose the more open and well marked option back (a little) and around on the inside. Downside of that was that the sail eventually became very downwind and slow. Actually not very bad in the nice and warm weather and with the snow covered mountains in the distance it was post card sailing. To hazy to convey the "post cardiness" though.

At Slettingen light house and close to Titran, there where still a lot of nice sailing to be had so I continued towards Kvenvær.  With a more southerly course, broad reach and a little stronger wind due to funnelling between Hitra and Frøya this leg of the sail wasn't as pleasant but faster and more exciting. 

First orca passage

June 29th    Fillan - Sula

Letting the wind decide where to sail today. With wind from west that meant to north and out toward the outer island chain of Frøya became direction of choice. Tugging along on a pleasant reach orcas suddenly appeared on all sides of the boat, none very close though. I guess that the closest was around hundred meters from the boat. But even at that distance their size is impressing. Regrettably I had no long telephoto lens in the cockpit and didn't want to miss out on a second of the experience by going down below to fetch the SLR and a long lens. Thus the images is quite grainy.

As nice as the reach was, even after the orcas left (or I left the orcas) at a stage I reach the chain of islands, skerries and narrow passages that is Froan. Having decided to go to the westernmost of the fishing villages, Sula, my direction of travel became very upwind and with narrow channels and a plethora of skerries tacking back and forth felt little attractive. Thus sailing became motoring for the last ten miles.

Sula has rich fishing grounds in the ocean just outside the maze of skerries protecting the village and harbour from said ocean. Thus in the time of fishermen sailing and rowing good living could be made here. The village has been inhabited at least from around year 1300 and was used during the season for several hundred years before that. Around 1400 the population was big enough to grant building a church. And still in the 1960 it had a population of more than 500. Modernisation of the fisheries and society at large has since led to a significant decline here as with most other outlying fishing villages and today only around 50 lives here year round. 

Even here far out in the north Atlantic spring is quite lush.

Back and forth is twice the distance

May 25th - May 28th Stokksund - Børøysund, Hitra - Fillan (Lervågen marina)

Ibsens Peer Gynt was obviously wrong claiming that back and fort is the same distance. In sailing its either twice the joy og twice the agony..

Going back to Hitra that I left three days ago was joyous, even in  to weak winds for sailing.

And in line Norwegian classics the pier gave somewhat of a Munch vibe. In corona times there was no girls on the bridge. In fact beside the crew of the other visiting boat I saw nobody, and the restaurant here at Børøysund was not open.

The reason for going back was to be in a position to tak the bus to visit my parents during one of the days of predicted three day gale with resulting harbour time for a comfort sailor like myself.

I moved harbours to Lerøyvågen by Fillan to get to a town, always less boring with several days in harbour. 

This years first visit to Stokksund

May 23rd - May 24th Uthaug - Stokksund (Kuringvågen marina) and Harbak via bike

While the rest of the boats not sailing together had to return to Trondheim I had a week worth of collected overtime to spend and decided to sail northeast to maximise the forecasted southeasterlies. Thus I ended up in one of mye usual places at Kuringvågen marina.

Instead of sailing on the 24th I decided to pack out my bike and bike out to Hardbak with the ambition to walk up to the cave there. Regrettaby due to my fear of heights I couldn't make myself traversing the path up there, even though it is unusually well adapted for Norway with stairs and safety lines (some of which can be seen on the image below.

The cave is around 140 m deep and 40 m high. In side there is a stone wall that most likely built around 2000 years ago as some kind of fortification the locals could retract to if enemies attached the population in the area. Uninhabited fortifications for this purpose is not uncommon during this time. Few offer the kind of protection found in the Hardbak cave though. 

Since I was not able to get to the cave I decided to bike a bit further out to be able to enjoy some of the views over the sea and archipelagos outside on this beautiful day. It probably wasn't as spectacular from sea level as it would have been from the cave, but on this beautiful spring day I didn't care much.

On one of the farms at Hardbak have diversified their livestock a little. Even though lamas are from high above the sea on the other side of the earth I guess that they are well adapted to the harsh climate far out on the Fosen coast. And since the open landscape at the Norwegian coast actually must be cultivated by grassing livestock they probably is a welcome addition to the increasingly more and more difficult task of conserving this cultural landscape.

Still cheeky cruising

May 22nd Ansnes - Uthaug

Whilst still not participating in any organised event I was the last boat out of the harbour.  With pleasant winds the sails was set just outside the harbour and due to a beneficial I could keep at the same close hauled angel even when the direction of the fjord was more and more towards the direction the wind originally came from.

Eventually I had to start beating to the wind. But after just two tacks the wind became confused and weak and the trusty Volvo had to be employed to secure some sort of progress. After a short while the wind became unconfused. still weak, but direction had changed allowing for a favourable reach on an almost glassy sea. 

For the destination at Uthaug later in the day gale force winds was forecasted. So in good time before approaching I reefed the main, but the gale didn't materialise (just jet) so a shook the reef out and got a lovely broad reach reaching 8,2 kn of boat speed. In hindsight I should have read the landscape and rereefed before sailing onto Bjugnfjorden that is open in the direction the wind came from -  for there the wind was gale force. Furling sails on an overpowered boat is difficult and doing it singlehanded even more so. Since I normally is running a conservative set up I'm not specially experienced in that manoeuvre either. But after trying different ways with and without engine I was able to furl the main on a somewhat close hauled starboard tack with a loose main sheet. And with the main saved the jib could be furled on a board reach. Luckily the open fjord that allowed for the strong wind also provided plenty of space. 

The final challenge of the day was docking singlehanded on the outside of another boat. Third row from the dock actually and still in a gale. With the dock being windward I would be blown away from the boat I was to dock against in seconds. But I dutifully prepared my four lines on the starboard side as I usually does when coming alongside and the boat I was to dock alongside had prepared fenders. I went in a little faster than I usually does and used more revs stopping the boat AND there where four sailors from the other boats grabbing my lines as soon as they could reach immediately securing them on the relevant cleats. And thus the docking went smooth despite the skippers very high pulse. 

Cheeky spring cruise

May 19th - May 21st (Sørumsand airplane) - Brekstad - Sivertsvik - Ansnes

 

I flew to Brekstad this time. Going through a COVID empty Oslo Airport was quite spooky. An almost empty flight roster for the rest of the day at 17.32 is quite telling for the impact the pandemic have. 

Arriving at the boat and fresh sea air was a relief.

With COVID restriction not allowing organised arrangements we where a group of boats that just happened to meet at Sivertsvik boat club for a long weekend of cruising for Ascension. For me the cheeky cruise started with a short hop inward the fjord in pleasant spring weather.

Even keeping social distance it is possible to have a quite pleasant evening with fellow sailors. Especially when being served a panoramic sunset like this.

The new day the boats set sails in an initially quite vivid southeasterly.

A while after the wind became lighter and lighter. I spent the entire distance from Storfosna to the mouth of Fillfjorden on Hitra trying and not succeeding to set the genakker to keep ut with other boats sailing in the same direction.

At Ansnes several boats met again after a nice sail that included different degrees of engine usage.

Boat office, sails on and home-ported

April 28th - May 1st Grilstad - Brekstad

I had some doubts about the feasibility to do my day job from the boat. Would I get the necessary internet speeds for online meetings, would access to the agency's server work etc. And not at least how would my back feel after a day on the bench on the saloon. Luckily everything went smoothly and I don't think that my colleagues took any other notice that a different background and me being more upbeat (from staying on the water).

With a little to strong winds to mount my furling jib and mainsail on the first planned day at Grilstad I agreed with the sail loft to postpone to the next day. However in the afternoon the winds had subsided so we went back to the original plan. 

In addition to mount the sails I also got helt changing the old broken Windex and in lieu of that changing the topping lift line to one that not only can fullfill the intended purpose but also can be a safety line when climbing the mast and as a reserve main halyard. I.e. from a 4 mm to an 8 mm dimension. 

After the second workday in the boat at Grilstad I left for the home port Brekstad at the mouth of the fjord. Passing Fosen ship yard at Kvithyll where several of the Hurtigruten costal express ships was originally built (on imported hulls). The old, retired and listed costal steamer M/S Nordstjernen from 1956 was docked at the yard. 

After another day of boat office I took the high speed ferry to Trondheim and the bus to Orkanger and after a night at my parents drove my car the 450 km back home.